prolonged use herceptin

onlinejeroen

i write this letter on behalf of my mother who has been diagnosed with metastic breastcancer.

In February 2010 she was diagnosed with breastcancer with metastases in the liver and the skeleton.

At the End of March 2010 she started 13 chemotherapy treatments (Taxol and Her2)
Mid June 2010 she had a scan which shows no visible tumor and metastases and after that scan she had 25 radiation treatments.
She also has been on Herceptin every three weeks from mid June 2010 till now, so thats for 17 months.

The oncologist now recommends to stop Herceptin.

Does the U.S. have any results from the prolonged use of Herceptin ?

I Hope someone have any facts about this results so my mother have any guidance in making her decision.

thank you for reading my mothers story and wishing you all the best,

Jeroen from the Netherlands 

Moderators

Hi onlinejereon,

You may find some information helpful on our main Breastcancer.org site on Herceptin, especially on What to Expect When Taking Herceptin. You may also find the Research News on Targeted Therapies informative.

Hope this helps!

--The Mods

JeninMichigan

Hi Jeroen

I have been on Herceptin every three weeks since May of 2008.   It is my doctor's intent to keep me on it forever unless it stops working or something else better becomes available.   She advised she has stage IV patients who have been on Herceptin now for 10 years.    I would be nervous stopping it although I have ready some studies that indicate they are not sure how effective it really is after the the 3 year mark.    I would question your mom's oncologist on why he feels now is the time to pull her off.

Jennifer

orange1

Hi Jeroen,

Please see the thread called: Continuing Herceptin after progression to Stage IV.  I bumped it, so it should not too far below this thread.

Good luck to your mom.

MiracleMileM

I question stopping the herceptin unless there are some cardiac problems that are the real reason for stopping at least for a while.  I started out (diagnosis 12-1-07) stage IV triple positive with mets to sternum, ribs and in cartilege near collarbone plus node involvement under sternum but not under arms.  after 6 TCH, a lumpectomy and 36 IMRT radiation sessions, I went on Herceptin every three weeks plus arimidex plus zometa which switched to xgeva this year.   I have been NED since the fall of 2008,  My doctor says continued herceptin is the standard protocol for MBC as long as it is working without cardiac problems.  So question the oncologist closely.